1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention pertains to doped glasses containing additional constituents which, upon excitation by various types of radiation, emit radiation many times the intensity of the emitting radiation, in singly doped glasses.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known that crystals have similar properties of emitting radiation upon excitation by external radiation but the emission obtained from the glasses of the invention is stronger than that of comparable crystals. The advantages of the present invention over the prior art is that production of the glasses is simple and economical and emission of radiation in a desired spectral range at a desired intensification can be predetermined. Further, optical elements of any reasonable size and shape can be produced without difficulty. The systems of combinations of rare earths and additional ion of the present invention yield the desired degree of light or radiation intensification in a desired range of the spectrum.
The property of rare earths when activated by radiation to emit predetermined spectral lines is known as in U.S. Pat. No. 3,793,527 issued Feb. 19, 1974. Use of rare earth materials in a host material such as manufactured crystals is taught by Kiss in U.S. Pat. No. 3,438,881 issued Apr. 15, 1969. The patent issued to Kotera et al, U.S. Pat. No. 3,769,510 on Oct. 30, 1975 teaches combining rare earths with phosphors and that the inclusion of the rare earths strongly influences the light intensity output of the phosphors, sealed in a glass tube, when excited by various radiation sources and used as a dosimeter.
The present invention distinguishes over the teachings of the above prior art in that the present invention concerns types of glasses which contain rare earth and additional ingredients homogeniously mixed therewith in predetermined ratios of the rare earths herein specified to produce fluorescence of an intensity which is many fold that of the intensity of the activator (rare earth) radiation.